Finder & Folder Search Issues on macOS Sequoia 15.3.1

Hi everyone,


Since updating to macOS Sequoia 15.3.1, I’ve been facing a few issues with Finder:

• Inconsistent Folder View:

 – Some folders do not show item info by default. I must manually press CMD+J to enable “Show item info”.

 – The sorting order (set to sort by name) is not being applied consistently.


• Folder Search Problems:

 – When I search within a folder, no results are returned.

 – Occasionally, Finder even crashes during a folder search.


• Previous QuickLook Issues:

 – I had experienced QuickLook-related crashes earlier, and I suspect these issues might be related to Spotlight indexing or file metadata problems affecting Finder.


I’ve tried the following steps without success:

 – Booting in Safe Mode

 – Rebuilding the Spotlight index (using Terminal and maintenance tools like CleanMyMac)

 – Resetting Finder preferences


Has anyone else encountered these issues after the Sequoia 15.3/15.3.1 update? If so, are there any workarounds or fixes available? If not, I’ll be providing this feedback to Apple through Feedback Assistant.


Thanks for any insights or suggestions!

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 15.3

Posted on Feb 11, 2025 8:47 PM

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Posted on Feb 20, 2025 5:52 AM

I have been having this exact same issue since updating to 15.3.1. Note that now even RayCast cant search a thing... Also I am not using CleanMyMac. Worked before the update, now it no longer does...


Edit: Just did a shutdown again and it fixed the problem. Don't know why it didn't fix it the first time...

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Feb 20, 2025 5:52 AM in response to Vernon Kong

I have been having this exact same issue since updating to 15.3.1. Note that now even RayCast cant search a thing... Also I am not using CleanMyMac. Worked before the update, now it no longer does...


Edit: Just did a shutdown again and it fixed the problem. Don't know why it didn't fix it the first time...

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Feb 13, 2025 10:02 PM in response to Vernon Kong

Re: "When I search within a folder, no results are returned."


This particular ^issue^ is NOT related to CleanMyMac -- never heard of that program before finding this thread.


Just experienced the exact same ^issue^ on my computer with macOS v15.3 -- for any / every folder.


The other issues, don't know, could be CleanMyMac 🤷


If you need search capabilities (until Apple fixes this issue), use Terminal and the `find` command -- something like:


% find ~ -type f -name "My Filename*"


Just worked perfectly for me.


`find` is the command to be executed that searches from the command line

`~` is your user directory, can be replaced with absolute or relative path

`-type f` specifies you are looking for a file, not a directory (`-type d` for directories)

`-name "My Filename*"` is the file you are looking for where the filename starts with "My Filename", the asterisk is a wildcard for 'zero or more characters', using quotes makes looking for files with spaces in the name easier


The results will be less pretty and you will need to manually follow the outputted path in Finder if you are not a command line native user; could use Cmd+Shift+G in Finder and copy/paste the path in too.


Hope this helps 💪😎👍

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Feb 12, 2025 4:55 AM in response to Vernon Kong

Apple may fix issues Directly related to the Operating System with we Lease from Apple


Though, when the User ( you ) install such an application as " BrickMyMac " aka CleanMyMac


Sorry but that is a Self Inflicted issue which could have been avoided


Once this type of software is installed and embedded into the computer >> CleanMyMac


Start Over from Scratch 


Heavy Handed - Yes ?


You can spend hours or days hunting down all the bits and pieces of this software and never really get it all off the computer


For Apple Silicon computer >> Use Disk Utility to erase a Mac with Apple silicon.


For Apple Intel computers >>   Use Disk Utility to erase an Intel-based Mac followed by How to reinstall macOS


Always make a Time Machine Backup  before  proceeding 


If going this route - I suggest Not using Startup Assist to migrate everything back.


This will probably Re-Introduce ( CleanMyMac ) back into the Operating System 

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Mar 2, 2025 1:07 PM in response to Vernon Kong

I just tried searching in a PDF document for the word "solicit" and instead of finding any words that contain that string (e.g. solicit, soliciting, solicitation, etc.) it highlighted words containing "sol" or "soli", etc. This is a sort of inversion of the search principle.

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Finder & Folder Search Issues on macOS Sequoia 15.3.1

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